The Replacements Get Their Due

The year was 1987 and the NFL players were on strike. The league decided to keep playing and rostered the teams with replacement players for three games. For those that don’t remember it as vividly, there is a pretty darn good movie about the event, “The Replacements” starring Keanu Reeves and Gene Hackman. It was Hollywood but the one fact they got right was the most important one. The group of replacement players for the Washington Redskins went 3 – 0, winning the last one against a Dallas Cowboys club that had most of their major players in the game who had crossed the picket line to join the team earlier.

Washington went on to win the Super Bowl in that strike affected season due in large part to their 3.0 start to the season.

And that’s the beginning of our story. A group of guys that couldn’t make it in the NFL beat the (at that time) vaunted Dallas Cowboys in a straight up contest. It’s considered, and rightfully so, one of the biggest upsets in NFL history.

Now what makes this awesome and one of the coolest NFL stories ever is yesterday, the Washington Redskins had a ceremony where they actually awarded Super Bowl rings to the replacement players!

Senior Analyst, Editor, Podcaster & Photographer for @SportsTalkLine Network. Started covering the Cowboys on CowboysNation.com. Moved to the same gig here and now head the NFL desk. Catch me on Twitter @StevenVanOver